The question I have asked myself in recent weeks is very simple: does the Italian government really do anything? Is it an institution truly able to serve the people when necessary and to provide timely solutions as in this emergency and during the others to come?

Today my speech at the China Outlook 2020 Conference of the European Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. We talked about China’s economic outlook, trade war and business prospects. Here are my six bullets:

During the China International Import Expo 2019 in Shanghai, I talked about the Italy and China trade relationship on Caixin one of the leading media in China. Here are my key points for the interview: 1) Although Italy and China manufacturing overlap with a high degree of 60%, more cooperation of the complementary 40% will bring opportunities in trade; 2) Chinese companies should do more greenfield investment in Italy to balance the nature of investment flows, which is skewed too much towards M&A. 3) Focus on cross-cultural exchanges. Language and cultural barrier causes cognitive barriers between Italy and China which then lead to missing business opportunities. More knowledge means lower risks and higher propensity to invest. After all, Italia and Chinese culture are very similar, especially with Southern Italy (Trust me on this!)

Export of our Made in Italy is confirmed as driving force of our economy. Representing about one third of the country’s GDP, every 1% of export growth translates into 0.3% growth in Italy’s overall GDP. In line with our strategy “Protection of Key Countries and Promotion of Emerging Countries”, a major push came from non-EU countries, where we have concentrated our institutional trips. Great performance of our export in the United States, from where we have just returned.